Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] Early enthusiasm around a "buy-the-dip" rebound across select tech and mega-cap stocks materialized into some nice opening gains for the major averages, with the Nasdaq Composite (+1.0%) leading the way while the S&P 500 (+0.6%) and DJIA (+0.6%) also move higher.

At the sector level, the communication services sector (+2.4%) holds the widest gain, supported by solid mega-cap leadership, while Charter Comm (CHTR 153.47, +19.83, +14.84%) and Comcast (CMCSA 25.36, +2.19, +9.45%) are among the best-performing S&P 500 names.

Similarly, Tesla (TSLA 391.66, +11.94, +3.15%) and Amazon (AMZN 241.47, +8.78, +3.77%) give the consumer discretionary sector an early boost (+2.0%). Six "magnificent seven" stocks trade higher this morning, and the Vanguard Mega Cap Growth ETF is up 1.8%.

The information technology sector (+0.1%), however, has given up the bulk of its early gain. Memory names such as Micron (MU 1053.39, -78.94, -6.97%) are seeing an extension of Friday’s weakness, which has recently bled into other semiconductor names. The PHLX Semiconductor Index is now down 1.1% after advancing nearly 1% at the open.

Meanwhile, the iShares GS Software ETF is up 3.0% as software stocks such as CrowdStrike (CRWD 749.45, +48.36, +6.90%) and Palo Alto Networks (PANW 324.60, +20.40, +6.71%) add to their gains from Friday.

The materials sector (-1.3%) is the early laggard, with construction materials names facing some profit-taking after moving higher amid the recent pullback in oil prices and Treasury yields. A handful of more defensive-oriented sectors oscillate around their flatlines, but the materials sector is the only sector with a loss wider than 0.3%.